Apollonia-Arsuf: Final Report of the Excavations

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The analysis of the finds discussed in this report contribute to our understanding of the site during the Byzantine and early medieval occupation. Byzantine Apollonia, called Sozousa, was unwalled and extended over an area of some 280 dunams. Among its architectural remains are a church and industrial quarters with wine and oil presses, plastered pools, and raw glass furnaces. In the days of the Umayyad Caliph ‘Abd al-Malik (685–705), the site, at that point called Arsuf, was fortified by a wall that encompassed some seventy-seven dunams. By the end of the Early Islamic period, it became a ribbat (fort) where Muslim philosophers resided. In 1101, the site was conquered by the Crusaders. Towards the mid-twelfth century, ownership was transferred to a Crusader noble family, and the site became the center of a feudal seigneury. Construction of the castle in the northern sector began in 1241, and in 1261 administration of it, the town, and the seigneury of Arsur, as it was then called, passed to the Knights Hospitaller. By the end of the Mamluk siege in 1265, the town and castle were destroyed and never again settled.

Oren Tal is Professor of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University. He is the Director of the Apollonia-Arsuf-Excavation Project and codirector of the Tell Iẓṭabba Excavation Project.

PREFACE

Oren Tal

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

Oren Tal

SECTION ONE: STRATIGRAPHY AND ARCHITECTURE

CHAPTER 2 AREA AA (2012−2013)

Tamar Harpak and Oren Tal

CHAPTER 3 AREA AA1 (2012−2013)

Itai Elad, Tamar Harpak and Oren Tal

CHAPTER 4 AREA AA2 (2012−2013)

Tamar Harpak and Oren Tal

CHAPTER 5 AREAS AA3, AA4 AND BB (2012−2013)

Tamar Harpak and Oren Tal

CHAPTER 6 AREA CC (2012−2013)

Tamar Harpak and Oren Tal

CHAPTER 7 AREAS CC2, DD1, DD2, DD3 AND TT8 (1996, 2012−2013)

Itai Elad, Tamar Harpak and Oren Tal

CHAPTER 8 AREA M (2006, 2009)

Oren Tal

CHAPTER 9 AREA N (2002) AND AREA N1 (2017)

Oren Tal

CHAPTER 10 AREA O (2006, 2009)

Oren Tal

CHAPTER 11 BURIALS AND SKELETAL REMAINS

Yossi Nagar

CHAPTER 12 CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY

Oren Tal

SECTION TWO: THE FINDS

CHAPTER 13 POTTERY

Itamar Taxel

CHAPTER 14 LAMPS

Oren Tal, Itamar Taxel and Marcio Teixeira Bastos

APPENDIX 14.1 OPTICAL MINERALOGY ANALYSIS OF SAMARITAN OIL LAMPS

Mark Iserlis

CHAPTER 15 STONE VESSELS

Itamar Taxel

201

CHAPTER 16 GLASS

Ruth E. Jackson-Tal

207

CHAPTER 17 SMALL FINDS

Oren Tal

246

CHAPTER 18 COINS (AREAS AA−DD, M, N, O)

Gabriela Bijovsky (with a contribution by Issa Baidoun)

263

CHAPTER 19 TWENTIETH CENTURY MILITARIA

Alexander Glick

SECTION THREE: FAUNA

CHAPTER 20 THE ANIMAL ECONOMY OF BYZANTINE SOZOUSA AND ITS IMMEDIATE HINTERLAND (AREAS M, O, AA1 AND CC)

Miriam Pines and Lidar Sapir-Hen

APPENDIX 20.1 MEASURMENTS (STANDARDIZED MEASURMENTS TAKEN ACCORDING TO VON DEN DRIESCH 1976)

Miriam Pines and Lidar Sapir-Hen

CHAPTER 21 MOLLUSC REMAINS (AREAS AA−DD)

Oz Rittner and Henk K. Mienis

SECTION FOUR: REGIONAL STUDIES

CHAPTER 22 APOLLONIA GLASS AND ITS MARKETS: AN ANALYTICAL PERSPECTIVE

Ian C. Freestone

CHAPTER 23 CARPE MOMENTO: IN QUEST OF THE MATERIAL EVIDENCE OF THE BATTLE OF ARSUF (7 SEPTEMBER 1191)

Rafael Y. Lewis

SECTION FIVE: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

CHAPTER 24 THE SITE AND ITS IMMEDIATE HINTERLAND IN LATE BYZANTINE TIMES

Oren Tal

LIST OF LOCI

Tamar Harpak, Oren Tal and Hagi Yohanan

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